Figured I'd put this thread up for Mignola universe discussions. BPRD is great at the moment and with Darkness Falls due later in the year we will need somewhere to talk about the new Hellboy series, especially since Mignola is only writing it. I am looking forward to the new artist, Duncan Fegredo, but will it be Hellboy without it's creator drawing?

Just finished reading The Universal Machine 4, a great read as usual. This story is really cementing the team together after Roger's demise in the Black Flame. The flashbacks and insights into each character have been handled excellently, loved Daimio's scar origin. The glue holding it all together so tightly is Guy Davis's artwork - simple and brilliantly emotive, I fucking love his work on all the BPRD books. The expressions of the Wendigo in UM4 are superb, you really feel for the poor beast!

Looks good, can't wait for the DVD. I like the fact they are referencing some of the comic locations, yet keeping their distance from the stories. Gives us something new to watch.

Found out the other day that Mignola has guest drawn the last issue of The Universal Machine, I have mixed feelings about this, whilst I love Mignola's artwork ( and cannot wait for a fix ) I really count BPRD as Davis's joint now, I was looking forward to seeing him conclude the run. Oh well at least it's MM and not someone else. The a$$holes reckon it's a great final issue......

Great last issue of The Universal Machine, even better than I could have hoped for - Davis does the art for the majority and Mignola ends with an epilogue dedicated to Roger.

It's a quick finish, an awful lot is crammed into this book, a sixth issue might have been nice to give Corrigan and Roger a little more time to finish their individual tales, but Davis's action scenes appease the rushed feeling.

Roger's epilogue is short but very, very sweet. I thought that he would be rejoining the BPRD ranks for sure, but Mignola has something much more sensitive to give to his homunculus. I nearly shed a little tear.......

Well, so doglippedone isn't all alone here, I just read the first Hellboy trade paperback, Seed of Destruction. It was my first time reading any Hellboy, and I quite enjoyed it. I particularly enjoyed the art, and thought it worked well for a Lovecraftian-inspired type story. Actually, I think the Lovecraft influence is definitely one of the reasons I enjoyed both this book and the movie so much. My only previous knowledge of Hellboy was the movie, so it was interesting to see how many ideas and lines were stolen/inspired by things in this first story line. At the same time, the vast majority of it is quite different than the events of the movie. I enjoyed this enough that I will be getting some more TPB's in the series in the future.

Not going to get all fanboy on you, but I envy you reading these books for the first time. The five Hellboy tpb's are something special. No 6 'Strange Places' is due out soon, the artwork to the two tales inside really is the best thing Mignola has done.

Halfway down this page, are the Hellboy E-Comics, most of which are contained in TPB's 3+4, but it will give you a taste for what is to come, they are only short stories.

Last edited by doglips on Mon Oct 09, 2006 7:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I love the Hellboy universe. I heard about it atleast two years before I ever picked up a TPB sometime in 2002 and I distinctly remember thinking the name sounded stupid. Way to judge a book by it's cover. Hellboy and the BPRD is probably one of my favorite on going things in comics though I prefer getting the TPBs so I am behind on BPRD as a result. I read Conqueror Worm (still my favorite Hellboy or BPRD story) before anything else.

I'm actually making a Lobster Johnson costume for Halloween this year due to my affection for Mignola's work. If I find myself brave or drunk enough I will post pics when finished.

Oh hell yeah, I actually prefer BPRD storywise, the focus of TPB's 3-6 is kind of on Abe ( very much on Abe in the current series ) who I love as a character. Mignola gives every character some real love over the course of these adventures and Guy Davis's artwork ( whilst wildly different to Mignola's ) is perfect - the latest book, Garden of Souls contains his career best - issue 4 is gobsmacking.

You must read the trades in order ( obvious I know, but many don't ) The first two TPB's have a few tales in them, 3-6 are all 6 parters.

Vol. 1 (Hollow Earth & Other Stories) is a collection of a miniseries and several shorts / stand-alones.
Vol. 2 (The Soul of Venice & Other Stories) is a collection of stand-alones and shorts.
Vol's 3-6 (Plague of Frogs, The Dead, The Black Flame, The Universal Machine ) Separate stories, part of one big unfinished arc.

It really just seems like by-the-numbers-Hellboy, a real step back after The Third Wish and The Island - sure it's great to have Hellboy back in action, but all the nuances Mignola had given Hellboy as a character over those four issues seems to have been forgotten (Lovely art from Fegredo though.) I find it odd that Hellboy seems to be wallowing whilst B.P.R.D. goes from strength to inventive strength.

I only read the German HC collections so I'm double behind on both Hellboy and BPRD. (arrrgl the first post spoiled me, damn you doglips!).

I was wondering about the Soul of Venice which wasn't published in Germany, just two of the stories were tacked to Plague of frogs. Who did the stories and how are they? I really liked the one with the three non-witches but didn't really care about the one where a treasure hunter gets possesed and creates a bunch of zombies.

Dark Horse has provided Newsarama with an exclusive preview of next week's BPRD: The Black Goddess #2 by Mignola, Arcudi and more.

The solicitation for the issue reads:

With the help of the Lobster's last surviving ally, the B.P.R.D. has tracked Memnan Saa to the mountain refuge where he is holding Liz. But even the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense is unprepared for the apocalyptic battle ahead. Written by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi, and drawn by Guy Davis, B.P.R.D.: The Black Goddess is the second of three major arcs pulling together threads from throughout the series -- and leaving the B.P.R.D. and the world forever changed.

Shaun Manning wrote:Hellboy's world is in a state of upheaval, with the prophecies surrounding him and newfound responsibilities weighing powerfully on each decision he makes. Plus, he just lost an eye. But even greater changes are in store for the Dark Horse published demonic hero in 2011, as series creator Mike Mignola takes the reins to both write and draw Hellboy's ongoing adventures. Meanwhile, Richard Corben returns and Kevin Nowlan makes his "Hellboy" debut to present new stories from the character's past. In our final installment of HELL(BOY) ON EARTH, Mignola spoke with CBR News about the first few projects to hit comic shops in the new year and about how good it feels to once again draw his most famous creation on a regular basis.

Before Mignola dives into drawing Hellboy full-time, in the Spring his final arc with Duncan Fegredo will introduce significant changes to Hellboy's world, which he discussed in CBR's first HELL(BOY) ON EARTH interview. Mignola shied away from discussing story points, but did offer an explanation for dividing what he sees as one story - 2010's "The Storm" and the upcoming "The Fury" - into two miniseries. "With 'Wild Hunt,' we screwed up, and we ended up having this giant gap in the middle. So this time we thought, ok, well, let's structure this thing as two miniseries, even though we all really know it's one book," he said. "So 'The Storm' is kind of the setup and 'The Fury' is payoff. 'The Fury' is almost entirely climax. It makes giant, sweeping changes to Hellboy and the world and sets the stage for me taking the book over. So, it's a big one."

With such major changes happening with Hellboy and the new "Hell on Earth" era beginning in "B.P.R.D.," CBR asked whether there might be more interplay between the titles. "Well, everything's related in the Hellboy world. But they're certainly running parallel, as far as, you know, the shit's hitting the fan," Mignola said. "Part of the fun of doing 'The Storm' was I'd run 'Hellboy' in such a different direction than 'B.P.R.D.,' that it was really fun to have Hellboy look up at a TV set and see what's going on currently in 'B.P.R.D.' It was my way of saying this is the same world, they are connected, and maybe these books are starting to converge a little more than they had been."

Though Mignola will be drawing the core, present-day 'Hellboy' series after "The Fury," other artists will still get their crack at the character in stories set throughout the character's history. One that Mignola finds especially exciting is "Buster Oakley Gets His Wish," which will be illustrated by Kevin Nowlan and hits stores in April of 2011. "That's the coolest thing to me. Kevin got into the business just a little before me, I've been a fan of his for a bazillion years, and like everybody else, I've been frustrated and sad to see the guy do covers and just ink people. I'm one of those guys who's been saying to him every time he sees him, 'When are you going to draw comics again? When are you going to draw comics again?'" Mignola said. "I ran into Kevin at a convention in England a couple years ago and I really gave him a hardcore sales pitch for doing an issue of Hellboy. He went, as Kevin does, 'Yeah...hm...yeah, that might...that sounds like maybe something... yeah, I kinda like the sound of that.' I can't say I came away knowing this was going to happen, but on the flight home, I did make up this story just so I'd have it in my pocket. If I got him to actually do it, I would have the perfect Kevin Nowlan Hellboy story. And it's beautiful, really beautiful."

As to what makes "Buster Oakley" the perfect Hellboy story for Nowlan, Mignola said simply, "cows." "Nobody can draw cows like Kevin. It's a very, very odd story. I've never done anything like it. The setting is something I've never done in Hellboy. Even down to the title, I was kind of stumbling around with how - I knew the story, but I didn't quite know how I was going to spin the actual scripting of the story. And when I came up with that title, which I believe came to me in the shower, as these things tend to do, that title made me realize 'Oh! Ok, I know what this story is.' I knew how the action played out, but I didn't really know the tone of the story, if that makes sense at all. Once Kevin started turning in artwork, and we all overcame the shock of seeing Kevin draw comics, it became a matter of, 'How am I going to write this?' Because I work plot-style. From the plot, you see what the action is, but you don't really get the voice of the characters. You don't get the tone of the story. So I adjust that tone based on the artwork. What we came up with here is something really different from what I've done before."

Richard Corben will also be returning to Hellboy with "Being Human," which hits in May. Mignola said the origins of this one-shot were practical in nature, but also allow him to return to a long-lost, fan-favorite character. "We did a B.P.R.D. story a couple years ago called 'The Ectoplasmic Man,' which focused on the Johann character. So we had this one-shot that Ben Stenbeck did a beautiful job drawing, John Arcudi did most of the writing on it, but this thing is uncollected. And Scott Allie is writing a story with another one of the B.P.R.D. characters [Liz Sherman, who will star in 'The Dead Remembered.'] So we started talking about, 'You're doing that story, we've got this Johann story that needs to be collected someplace, we need another piece for this collection.' And since these stories are all about B.P.R.D. characters but sort of solo stories, I said, 'Well, one thing we've never seen is a Hellboy story with Roger the homunculus,'" Mignola told CBR. "There was that first story, where Hellboy encountered this guy and they had their problems, but I figured there was a time there where Hellboy was taking this guy under his wing, as he did with Abe Sapien, as he did with Liz Sherman - there had to be Roger's first mission. So I said, 'Yeah, ok, maybe that would be something to do.'

"As I recall, the story cobbled itself together fairly quickly," the writer continued. "And since Roger the homunculus is so close visually to Corben's Den character, I said, 'Yes, if we do Hellboy and Roger, can we get Richard to draw that?' Because that would be great. I set it in another crumbling old house, in an overgrown cemetery, and no one is better at drawing that stuff than Richard. Nobody can do the texture of a rotting wallpaper better than Richard Corben. It was a Southern Gothic kind of thing, which, again, I'd never done. I'm real excited about it. I actually haven't finished the script on it yet, but Richard, as he does, turned this thing in in the blink of an eye, and it's just beautiful. That will be coming out as a one-shot Hellboy story; ultimately, I think it will be collected as a B.P.R.D. thing with these other stories."

Though his writing load doesn't seem to be getting any lighter, Mignola is happy to be returning to the drawing board for Hellboy's ongoing adventures. "My major job next year is going be returning, replacing Duncan as the artist on Hellboy as far as moving the Hellboy story forward. I'm pretty excited about that." The plan, he said, is to begin "as soon as I get rid of about a month's worth of stuff in front of me that needs to be finished up - scripts that need to be finished, some covers."

Mignola also told CBR News there might also be a change to the series of miniseries format, though firm decisions on that aspect have not been made. "What I want to do, because it is a new direction for Hellboy, what we'll probably do, if it's a four-issue story, we won't call it a miniseries. We'll put out those four issues in a monthly thing, and then if it takes three months or four months or six months in between for the next issue to come out, that would be fine," he told CBR. "I don't want it to be one of these things where I'm leaving guys in the lurch and going away for six months, but I'm also not the fastest guy on Earth. I believe we're just going to number it one through whatever, however high we go, and not structure it specifically as miniseries. So it will be like a series, except that it won't be. It's like those cool independent guys do it, where their books just come out whenever they're done. It will be a series, which is pretty weird for me, because I've never done that. But everything I want to do is in that 'Hellboy.'

"I kind of look at it as my semi-retirement; this is where I settle down, and I'm working full time as a comics guy, but I've done a bunch of different stuff now. Enough stuff that I can kind of go, 'You know what I really want to do? I want to sit down and draw my comic,'" he added. "I made up a comic where I can do whatever I want, why don't I go back and do that? That seems like a really nice way to spend my days."

A favorite amongst comics professionals for his superlative technique and striking style, Kevin Nowlan is an artist whose work is always a pleasure to see. Among his career highlights include the Jack B. Quick portions of Alan Moore's Tomorrow Stories, inking Joe Quesada to superstardom in 1992's Batman: The Sword of Azrael, and designing the logo for Mike Mignola's Hellboy, arguably the most recognizable and excellent logo in creator-owned comics history.

Nowlan's Hellboy logo debuted sometime in the early 1990s, but in all that time he's rarely drawn Hellboy himself. Thankfully, on sale now is a brand new Hellboy one-shot, "Buster Oakley Gets His Wish," drawn and colored by Kevin Nowlan himself from a script by Mike Mignola. You can check out a beautiful preview below. It's about a guy who really loves cows.

Andy Khouri wrote:On sale now is the fourth library edition of Hellboy, the long-running and supremely acclaimed supernatural adventure series created by Mike Mignola. Published by Dark Horse Books, the library editions present Hellboy material that was previously released as serial comic books and later paperback reprints in incredibly handsome, oversized volumes with thick, heavy paper and clothed hardcovers. In addition to the hundreds of pages of story, each Hellboy Library Edition comes with copious notes, sketches and other supplemental material by Mignola, making the books even more valuable to dedicated Hellboy fans.

ComicsAlliance has an exclusive look at some of the Mignola artwork that you can only find in Hellboy Library Edition Volume 4, and you can check that out as well as ten story pages after the jump.

Collecting The Crooked Man (illustrated by Richard Corben) and The Troll Witch and Others (featuring work by Corben and P. Craig Russell), Hellboy Library Edition vol. 4 represents a major period of Mignola's work on the series, characterized by collaborations with some of comics' greatest artists and delving ever more deeply into the mythology and folklore that defines Hellboy, not to mention the psychology of Hellboy himself as he continues to wander the Earth after his split from the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.

The following artwork is exclusive to ComicsAlliance and represents just a fraction of the 30 pages of supplemental material you will find in Hellboy Library Edition volume 4. Whether you're a longtime Hellboy reader or someone coming to the saga for the first time, there is no better way to read this Mike Mignola opus than in Dark Horse's library editions. You can purchase volumes 1-4 in finer comic book shops and bookstores or online from Things From Another World.

Kiel Phegley wrote:Since its inception, Dark Horse's continuing string of miniseries starring the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense -- themselves a component of Mike Mignola's larger Hellboy mythology -- has made a name for itself by making lasting changes to the lives of its characters. In the world of the B.P.R.D., heroes are broken, battles are lost and lives end. And it seems that in the new year, another change is headed to the team -- this one a wrinkle in the physical life of one of the core characters.

CBR News has learned exclusively that in February, the next miniseries in the B.P.R.D. story cycle will introduce a new uniform and outlook for the team's resident bodyless medium Johann Kraus. The suit debuts on the cover to "B.P.R.D. Hell On Earth: The Long Death" #1 and is born as a direct result of the current "Hell On Earth: Russia" series, whose second issue just hit stores.

"With any luck, we're exploring Johann in more depth," series co-writer John Arcudi told CBR. "He's been struggling with some powerful demons lately, which have encouraged him to look into the more aggressive side of his nature. This was something that began in earnest in 'The Black Goddess' and we're going to pick some of those things up in 'The Long Death.'"

As with most of the visual components of the Hellboy universe, Johann's new look started on the drawing table of Mignola. However, this time the final version came at the hands of recent "Hellboy" artist Duncan Fegredo, who's sticking with the overarching mythos in the months ahead on projects like an incoming "Dark Horse Presents" story and the covers to "The Long Death." The artist explained his role in the redesign, saying, "My job for this cover was more about interpreting Mike's sketch, making decisions about what sort of materials composed the elements of the new suit and how best to showcase it. The cover design itself came very quickly and almost fully formed, I wanted to show the contrast between Johann and the landscape. It's a whole 'stranger in a strange land' thing; [Johann] could be an astronaut on an alien world or an alien on ours. It kind of sums up Johann himself as existing between two states of being."

Speaking of which, Arcudi promised that the visual change-up will be built on the current events of the comic -- particularly January's fifth and final issue of "Russia," where Johann and Kate's investigation with the Russian Occult Bureau causes the former character to land in a rather rough predicament. "It should help us understand how important life is to Johann -- specifically his own life, which he has not been able to live in a long, long time," Arcudi said of the change. "What exactly he's willing to give up to actually live again is a question that we play with in 'Russia' and then again in future series. These ideas seem naturally important to me (the guy's a ghost in a bag and obviously would rather not be, you know?), and, just as naturally, they will bring about some pretty big changes for Johann. Visible, lasting changes as well as more subtle changes.

"We wanted Johann to be more comfortable in his new suit," the writer added. "There should be elbows and knees in it, and even knuckles. That, and it had to make sense in the context of the story in 'Russia,' but I'd rather not say more than that for folks who haven't seen [it]."

As readers wait to see how the storylines of the series unfold, Arcudi noted that the parallel plotline of newer team member Devon's hunt for Fenix will "only synch-up [with Kate and Johann] in the sense that it will put all the players in place for the next phase of the B.P.R.D. storyline" and that "Long Death" overall "builds directly on Johann's transformation in 'Russia.' His goals in this book are bred of a newfound confidence, but also of a long-held ambition. The series also beefs up a couple of the 'normal' agents roles as well. We don't just want a bunch of red shirts parading through these pages. That's really important for the book, if you ask me. It gives it depth and believability."

For his part, Fegredo is happy to be a regular fixture in that believable, if unbelievable, sci-fi world. "It's a blast, being able to work on the B.P.R.D. covers," the artist said. "I've been a fan of the book since the beginning and I still am. Tyler is doing a terrific job stepping into the rather large and daunting shoes that belonged to Guy Davis for so long, a situation I can vividly relate to!"

Vaneta Rogers wrote:When Joe Querio got the gig drawing the story that starts in this month's B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth #122, it was like a dream come true.

Not only was he challenged to draw a story that's being marketed by Dark Horse as "the perfect jumping-on point for new readers" — making him particularly attentive to his storytelling and pacing, which he enjoys doing — but the two-issue tale is set in Japan… with kaijus, and Querio is a huge monster fan.

The artist, who made his debut at Dark Horse on The Witcher, is working with writers Jon Arcudi and Mike Mignola, with colorist Dave Stewart. And as he designed the monsters for the two-issue B.P.R.D. story that started in the most recent issue, the young artist got to work with some of the creators he's been admiring for years.

As Dark Horse shared some of Querio's designs for the monsters appearing in B.P.R.D. #122 and #123, Newsarama talked to the artist to find out more about his style, his designs, and why he thinks this story is the ideal starting point for new readers.

Graeme McMillan wrote:Having steered the destiny of Hellboy for more than two decades, creator Mike Mignola is turning his attentions to another famously misunderstood monster next year, with Dark Horse Comics announcing the new series Frankenstein Underground Wednesday.

The miniseries spins out of the appearance of Frankenstein's Monster in 2011's Hellboy: House of the Living Dead graphic novel and will see the creature discovering "other monsters and the dark secrets of the universe," according to the publisher. The five-issue series will be written by Mignola, who will continue to write and draw Hellboy, with art by Ben Stenbeck. Mignola will also contribute covers to the run.

"It's intimidating as hell to take on an icon like the Frankenstein monster," Mignola said in a statement accompanying the announcement. He intends to create a story "that's true to the origin Mary Shelley created for the creature but also captures a bit of the feel that Boris Karloff brought to the role in the classic Universal films" with the series.

The series will be a firm part of the "Mignolaverse," according to Dark Horse, referring to the family of series built up around Hellboy since that character's debut in 1993. In addition to multiple Hellboy series, Dark Horse has published additional titles including BPRD, Abe Sapien, Lobster Johnson and Sledgehammer 44, all of which take place in the same fictional universe and feature some level of input from Mignola, whether in terms of story or visual design.

KIEL PHEGLEY wrote:CBR News: Mike, with the announcement of the "Frankenstein Underground" series, you're taking a different step in the Hellboy world by including one of the iconic pop culture monsters as a literal presence in the story. It feels like you decided this character was THE Frankenstein Monster almost on accident, but up to this point was there a reason you'd held back from including the likes of him in HB's world for so long?

Mike Mignola: It just never occurred to me. There's no bigger Dracula fan than me, but it is its own thing. I didn't think there was anything I could add to it except bringing some name recognition to the book. It was easier to make up my own version of this, or my own version of that.

But with Frankenstein, it's not only such an iconic character, but an iconic idea. I've already had Frankenstein-like things -- the gorillas with the bolts sticking out of them and jars of guys -- but I've never had the guy. And it wasn't until it came time to write cover copy for "House of the Living Dead" where I realized this. "House" was really a nod to those old Universal monster films, where you'd see team-ups between the Wolfman or Dracula or whoever. Actually, in that book we have a vampire that you see who's in a coffin and who wakes up for a second. And I never thought about it until, actually, right now, but I'm sure that was Dracula. If there's a Dracula in the Hellboy universe, that was him in that basement crypt in Mexico. That's what that book was all about -- nods to those classic stories.

When I wrote that book, I was writing about a Frankenstein-like creature, but when it came time to write the cover copy, you couldn't just put "Frankenstein-like." It had to be him. He only really had one moment at the end of the book where he talks to Hellboy -- I thought it was such a nice moment -- and then he walks out the door. It kind of got the clock ticking for me. He's out there someplace, and if he is the actual Frankenstein monster, then sure -- let's use him.

I was really hesitant about just doing a Frankenstein book. It doesn't seem to jibe with the rest of the Hellboy world because it is so much its own thing. But when I found a way to mix it with some of the other imagery and the other history that's built up in the Hellboy world, it just seemed to work.

Even though the original novel is as iconic a book as it gets, the arguable definitive version of the Frankenstein character is the Boris Karloff movie take, with the bolts in his neck. Even when some adaptations have tried to stick true to the original, it's been something like Kenneth Branagh version --

He didn't come very close.

Right. So looking at all the Frankenstein stuff ever made, what did you consider the sacred stuff that had to be in place to show that this was the character?

I really don't think anything's terribly sacred. What I did do in this book is, when we reference his origins -- which we don't do a lot, but there are some flashes to moments in his past -- we do jibe with the Mary Shelley version. In fact, there's one particular moment where we see him actually coughing up dialogue that's slightly modified but pretty much taken from the novel. My feeling is that while I've read the novel and appreciate it, I'm much closer to the Karloff, "Bride of Frankenstein" monster. The voice I hear in my head for this guy is that Karloff monster.